There's A Strange Color On People's Trading Screens Today...

From Michael Block at Phoenix Partners, who observes how rare it
is to see a down market these days.

It’s a little after 7:30 AM ET here in New York, and I am trying
to figure out what this strange color on my screen is.
Oh yes…
red. SPUs (we are onto the June eMinis for
those of you keeping score at home) are down 3.50 at this hour,
and the Euro Stoxx is down 75 bps with Spain and Italy the
biggest drags for any number of reasons. This is going to
be one of those interesting weeks where market dynamics may trump
anything else. Lots of talk is going around about how
bullishly dealers are positioned in the indices for the big March
expiration on Friday, and there will be a big push to make that
all work. The big question is, what happens once that
artifice goes away? I know… more artifice!
Speaking of which, let’s see what our favorite politicans/central
bankers (unlike some of my peers, I no longer differentiate
between those two groups) are up to, and oh yes… we have some
data to discuss. Some of it is troubling. Not that it
matters.

The red shade is actually already a little lighter. S&P
futures down just 2 at the moment. And Dow futures are flat.